So far, the 6GB VRAM on my GTX 980Ti is coping just fine with MSFS @ 1920x1080 resolution. Granted, I am not running everything on ULTRA, but HIGH and 200/125 for the terrain and object detail levels are looking very nice on my 24" widescreen monitor.

You’re running it on a 980ti?

Impressed!👍

 

I'm very happy with my Dell XPS 8950.  It came with a i7-12700K processor, Liquid Cooling, 750 W PS, 1 TB M.2 PCle SSD.  I added a 2 TB M.2 PCle SSD for MSFS.  I went cheap with a GeForce RTX 3060Ti w/8 GB Ram.  The whole box cost about $2000. 

I run MSFS with about 50-60 Frames per Second which gives me a smooth presentation flying PMDG 737 or DC-6.

I could have spend more and can always upgrade. 

I though about building a machine but it's sure easier to order one with a few mouse clicks and Dell offers an extended warranty.

Jim Driskell

20 hours ago, JYW said:

If you decide to go with an X-Box, bear in mind that you'll miss out of thousands of pieces of brilliant freeware. The MSFS Marketplace (store that is built into MSFS) is packed full of literally hundreds of payware liveries and repaints for aircraft that Xbox users have to pay for - that's because on Xbox there's no way to install or use mods or freeware.  Those of us on PC don't buy those liveries, because we get them for free from flightsim.to (an excellent freeware resource).   Any modifications, tweaks or improvements you want to make or install won't be possible on Xbox.

On PC, the world's your oyster.  As stated above there are more options for peripherals and hardware with PC too (I've been using TrackIR head tracking for 18 years and couldn't fly without it). 

Even for regular payware products, there are many that are only available on PC (whereas there are none that are "Xbox only").   Xbox has it's place for those who are happy with more simplified controls and peripherals, and those who also enjoy more regular gaming.   But the experience of MSFS as a hobby is far wider and deeper on PC.

PS..... You absolutely 100% do not need a top end card like a RTX 4090 to enjoy this sim, despite what some who have them will say.   When I bought MSFS in 2020 I used a GTX1070 for the first year and with mostly medium settings had a great experience.  I switched to a 1080Ti and had a better experience.   I'm now on a 3080Ti and yes I was able to crank up some settings, but nothing fundamental has changed in my enjoyment of the sim.

I would say as a minimum you should have a Nvidia card where the last two digits are "-60" (eg 3060).  A -70 (eg 3070) will give much better results. A -80 or -90 will let you use higher settings still whilst maintaining smooth gameplay.   I can't comment on AMD graphics cards as I've never used one.

Good luck!

I agree with the graphics card assessment.  I had a 1080Ti and upgraded to a 4090.   My enjoyment of the improved but not $1,400 worth of improvement (purchased with a store promotion).

7 hours ago, rickjake said:

Not required at all, but if your going to build/buy a new computer that you want to keep for a long time, and not have to upgrade it, then going with the latest technology like the RTX 4090 is a good investment in the long run. If your budget allows it. 

This has always been my tact though often kept one upgrade behind over the decades, and always kept them for 4-5y.  But w/ MSFS 2024 coming this year I'm not sure what's really going to be needed.  We read multithreading will be much more optimized and will deliver major gains in CPU performance.  I'm hoping my CPU continues to survive until the new MSFS release to see what's really needed.  No plans to go to 4K display the one I have is great, and really well-matched to my PC's output.

If I decide I need more PC after 2024 releases I'm seriously contemplating for the first time buying a new PC from a builder, and Jetline Systems looks as good as any.

Go with Premium Deluxe

Because you'll get the free C700 Longitude which is one of the finest bizjets for any sim.  Supports navigraph charts and data too.

Also their CJ4 is really nice (free with any version of the sim)

I highly recommend the FSW Learjet 35 that just came out - with the TDS GTNxi (similar to rxp back in the day).

Other biz props are the excellent black square TBM 850, FSreborn M500, SWS PC12.

Wondering where in this world he is located.  Could make a difference on sources for custom built PC's.  So far he has not returned since the original post (OP).

7 hours ago, fppilot said:

Wondering where in this world he is located.  Could make a difference on sources for custom built PC's.  So far he has not returned since the original post (OP).

I'm in the US.  Thanks for all the replies everyone, I've been lurking, reading everything, gathering info on today's PC options and trying to decide how important "max graphics" vs $4000 is. 
I can swing it, but don't want to, but.. it'd probably run anything I'd want for another 10 years or so.

The FS2024 coming out kinda uprooted my plans a little. I learned long ago not to be a beta tester, and now that FS2020 has some years on it I was/am ready to pick up simming again, but now I'm not sure if I should wait for 2024. 

Is 2024 supposed to be a huge grouping of improvements upon 2020, or is it a whole new bag of tricks that'll be problematic with today's add-on A/C and utilities?  Anyone know?

I'm also really curious about the VR/head tracking?  What goggles/equipment are people using and is it as good as a curved screen?
And what about turning knobs/flipping switches?  Seems like VR would be amazing in a low/slow bush plane with all A/C controls having switch assignments, but how would it work in something like the PMDG 737?  

2 hours ago, Dashunde said:

Is 2024 supposed to be a huge grouping of improvements upon 2020, or is it a whole new bag of tricks that'll be problematic with today's add-on A/C and utilities?  Anyone know?

From what I've been hearing around the developer community, it should be mostly backwards compatible-ish haha!  Maybe not plug ang play but hopefully not too much work to have today's addons in tomorrow's MSFS 2024.

It's probably, what, 6 months till 2024 comes out.  That's 6 months of massive enjoyment with so many quality addons! 

I ran a semi dated PC till about last year.  And then I threw a lot of money at an upgrade basically out of covid... that cost me quite a bit, especially as I bought right before the awesome AMD x3D cpus arrived.  But oh well - as you know the moment you buy new tech it's obsolete.  (BTW I ended up going 12700K / RTX 4080 / 32GB ddr5 ram).  IF you have the money, I would probably be willing to drop 3k on a new rig.  However, the new RTX 5090 cards are "just around the corner" and they apparently will yield a large jump from the 4090...which was a massive leap from a 3090...  For you I'd just go big and get the new AMD 7800x3D, 32GB of ram, and pick your poison on a video card...  maybe find a used 3080 to hold you over until the 5090s arrive.  Or just commit and get a 4090 now - it will be helpful if you plan to use VR which it kinda sounds like it is your intent.

Speaking of VR I run a HP Reverb G2 (they aren't made anymore afaik) and it's decent but not excellent.  I feel like consumer VR headsets aren't quite "there" yet... close but you end up with a tiny sweet spot of maybe 1080p resolution and that's with a nice set like the G2.  There's the Pimax Crystal and Varjo Aero... you may want to check out the VR subforum to make a decision.  There's also a wrench in the VR  plan as I understand - Microsoft will no longer support their Windows Mixed Reality software in 2026 I think it was.  If you're going VR - commit to spending 3000 USD minimum on a new system... probably more like 4-5 with headset in hand - because I'd probably go for the Crystal and a 5090 🙂

As for button pushing and control manipulation.  I fly mostly GA but also bizjets like the Longitude, CJ4, C510 mustang, and the lovely new FSW Lear35.  They're pretty dang cool in VR I'll admit.  I use my mouse to click things but have a lot of items bound on my throttle, stick and pedals.  I recently re-subbed to Navigraph and they have a nice overlay in VR that makes getting charts, routes, weather simple.A lot of avioncs also support navigraph with charts, G1000/G3000/GTN etc.  I also own the PMDG 737-700 fwiw - it's not bad clicking on stuff in VR - works pretty well actually.  What I've not yet tackled is online flight with VR.  I used to be a heavy vatsimmer and PEer but with kids I've not had time to commit to that.  I can't wait for the day to try PilotEdge again with VR.

 

Edited January 4, 20242 yr by ryanbatc

DEVS almost always want to recode to utulize the latest API updates.

sp

3 hours ago, Dashunde said:

I'm also really curious about the VR/head tracking?  What goggles/equipment are people using and is it as good as a curved screen?
And what about turning knobs/flipping switches?  Seems like VR would be amazing in a low/slow bush plane with all A/C controls having switch assignments, but how would it work in something like the PMDG 737?  

HP Reverb G2. I don't use the hand controllers - I just use my regular yoke and throttle setup. The limitation of the G2 is the same as with most VR headsets - the "goggle effect." The field of view is narrower than human vision, so it kinda feels like you're wearing blinders. Newer and much more expensive sets like the Pimax Crystal significantly reduce that effect by having a much wider field of view. The other weakness is that the gauges can be a little fuzzy in VR. No big deal for reading stuff like the HSI/etc, but if you want to set up the PMDG FMS you'll want to zoom in on that. Part of that is probably that the G2 is only full 4k, which means an effective resolution of 2k since it's split between two eyes. And part of it is that I suspect MSFS' VR handling is still a bit subpar.

Even with the goggle effect, VR is vastly better than a curved screen. The only thing I think could possibly compete with the visuals is if you built a home cockpit with discrete windows and had an individual monitor for each window. And of course, the problem there is that you have to build a simpit to match one type of plane to make it look right, and then it looks wrong for every other type of plane.

For turning knobs and flipping switches I just use the mouse. Works fine. I'd love to get some sort of hand tracker setup so I could just reach out and flip switches, but from what I can tell none of them are really good enough to be 100% reliable and realistic.

I like VR for all styles of flight. It's great low and low bopping around in the mountains, and it's great at FL400 in a bizjet or the 737. I sim exclusively in VR now, it's that good.

 

 

10 hours ago, Dashunde said:

I'm in the US.  Thanks for all the replies everyone, I've been lurking, reading everything, gathering info on today's PC options and trying to decide how important "max graphics" vs $4000 is. 
I can swing it, but don't want to, but.. it'd probably run anything I'd want for another 10 years or so.
 

Unless you absolutely need to run MSFS in 4K, or use VR for MSFS and you want the best experience with VR, I would not spend $4000 USD on a computer and then try to use that computer for 10 years.  I checked Amazon and it looks like the going price for a NVidia 4090 is about $2100 USD. For $2100 USD, you can get a whole new computer, and get a decent NVidia 4000 series card in it like an NVidia 4070.

There was an FPS to price chart I saw somewhere before (sorry, I don't have the link at the moment) for the NVidia 3000 series cards, and the best FPS to price at that time was like the NVidia 3060 or NVidia 3060 Ti. The worst FPS to price ratio was the NVidia 3090, meaning you paid so much for the NVidia 3090, but the FPS you get for the price (the ratio), was just not as good as the NVidia 3060.  Pretty much, that chart answered the question, "what card to I get the best bang for the buck?"

Also, computers break down after so many years.  IMO, instead of spending $4000 USD on a computer and expecting it to last 10 years, you are better off spending $2000 USD every 5 years, during a 10 year period. I think this is the smarter play, unless you must have the latest and greatest, in which case I guess you'll be spending $4000 USD.

19 hours ago, Dashunde said:

I'm in the US.

Great. Take a look at Microcenter.com and see if they have a retail location near you.  They have a build your own department where you can hand pick each component for a new system and they offer competitve prices.  For around $200 they will assemble your system for you, test it, and guarantee the build for 2 years.  Many of the name brand components come with from three up to five year waranties. 

My system specs are in my message footer below.  The original build had an 8 TB GTX 1080 TI video card (early pandemic and no RTX cards available anywhere) and ran MSFS very well at 1080 and moderate settings.  I later upgraded the video card to an RTX 3080 12TB and now with no other changes run MSFS at true 4K with DX12, locked at 30 fps, and at above-moderate settings (several on ultra).  I only notice my system slowing my frame rates slightly when flying into very highly detailed payware airports, and then usually during times when significant clouds and weather are present.  If I drop back from 4K I can run smoothly on all ultra settings.  I do no overclocking. My overall system is now 3 1/2 years old and running fine.

Edited January 5, 20242 yr by fppilot

Lots to digest..

Can anyone find any fault with this MSI Aegis for $2400?
https://www.costco.com/.product.4000227093.html

I'd probably go with a relatively normal screen, I already have two big work screens in the way so desk space is limited, that and I'm likely to go high-end VR like the Pimax Crystal.  Will that MSI's GeForce RTX 4070Ti drive VR pretty good?